Talent Spotlight on Gregory Martin, Industrial Designer

Talent Spotlight is a regular feature profiling the employees of Product Creation Studio. See the Talent Spotlight archive for more interviews.

What led you to a career in product development?

Cars. They are my first true love (don’t tell the fiancée haha) and what spearheaded my passion for design. It combined my love of mechanics and art. My journey started as a dream of being an automotive designer and has since transitioned into products because of my love for problem solving.

What excites you most about your job?

I love getting up every day to a new challenge and more importantly, learning new things. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t find something new on a topic that I never thought about. It’s kind of a love for the random problem solving and the joy people see when it is solved that keeps me going.

Describe your most rewarding work experience to date.

This one is hard because I’m under NDA. In broad strokes, it was developing a product for the aging female population. It was so different and it has the potential to impact many people's lives. The product had to account for existing paradigms in order to develop a new solution that felt both natural and futuristic to the target population.

What is the most unusual or interesting job you've ever had?

I was once a roller coaster “operator” at an amusement park. It was my first job and I basically got paid to be outside and run a big toy all day. I weirdly miss it at times.

What is the most important thing you've learned in the last five years?

The questions you ask are more important than the answers you give - spurring creativity requires intense listening and giving people the right problems to create their ideas.